Brijendra Kala’s memorable supporting roles include a lawyer in Gulabo Sitabo, a journalist in Paan Singh Tomar and the slow taxi driver in Jab We Met. In interviews, he has described how those performances depend on both the character material already written and the details an actor adds through observation, music and improvisation.
How Brijendra Kala began his film career
Kala’s path to acting took him from his Uttarakhand hometown to Mumbai. The Indian Express reports that his film acting career began with Haasil (2003), in which he played a newspaper vendor. Scroll.in’s 2020 profile reported that he had more than 60 acting credits at that time; that is a contemporaneous count, not a current career total.
Three supporting roles that show his range
The films offer different settings and stories; what connects these parts is Kala’s ability to make a supporting character register within the film.
| Film | Kala’s role | What the role involves |
|---|---|---|
| Jab We Met | A slow taxi driver | A comic, brief encounter whose manner and musical choices help make the driver distinctive. |
| Paan Singh Tomar | A journalist | A supporting part in the story of the film’s title character. |
| Gulabo Sitabo | Lawyer Christopher Clark | A Lucknow lawyer hired by Mirza to help remove his tenant, Banke. |
Film Companion cited these performances as examples of Kala leaving an impression in small parts. The Indian Express gives further context for Clark’s role in Gulabo Sitabo.
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Kala has described character development as varying from one project to another. In a Film Companion interview, he said the characters in Gulabo Sitabo and Paan Singh Tomar were well-developed. By contrast, when a part offers less material, he may need to build more of it through performance.
He described his work on Sherni as a case where he knew most of the character in advance and contributed a smaller part of his own personality. The distinction is useful: improvisation is not the same as inventing a character from scratch. It can mean finding a performance detail that fits an already developed role—or adding texture where less has been specified.
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Music, observation and improvisation
Kala has said that ordinary life can offer clues for building a part. For the driver in Jab We Met, he recalled suggesting that the character sing an old film song: a driver covering long distances might listen to cassettes. He also recalled drawing on the memory of a friend who prayed in a car. These are Kala’s recollections of his choices, not independent production documentation.
He described improvisation as a way to satisfy his creative instinct in an interview with Film Companion: “Now that I don’t write much anymore, my writing ka keeda gets satiated through my on-the-spot improvisations.” The comment connects his performance work with an interest in writing, while leaving room for the director and the film’s existing script.
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Why small roles can stay with an audience
Kala has offered a direct rule for making a short part count: “If its one scene, that scene has to be mine.” The line captures the challenge of a supporting role: limited screen time leaves little space for gradual development, so a precise behavior, rhythm or point of view can help distinguish the character.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Kala also argued that realistic stories set in small towns give supporting characters more involvement. He put it this way: “Today, the stories are being set in small towns of India. Now they are not dependent only on the hero and the heroine. The involvement of a supporting actor has increased.” This is his view of the roles he has encountered, not an independently measured industry-wide trend.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What these interviews reveal about Kala’s craft
Kala’s account of his career is less about a single formula than about adapting to what a role provides. A part may arrive with its character already carefully developed, as he says happened with Sherni, Gulabo Sitabo and Paan Singh Tomar; another may leave him more room to supply behavior and detail. His examples—from a driver’s song to a remembered devotional habit—show how observation can make a small part feel specific without confusing a supporting performance with the story’s central role.
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